It hadn't even been that long since the battle began, yet one by one, candidates who had amassed more than the required number of points were already being pulled out—vanishing in brief flashes of teleportation.
Yelena had no reason to panic. Her expression remained as calm as ever.
But me? I had far more than necessary.
After all, we'd wiped out an entire orc outpost… and even helped take down a troll. Would that last part count as an accident? I wasn't sure.
What I did know was this: by sunset, the only ones still left in this zone would be those who hadn't managed to break past three hundred points.
Well, I had started the fight because I was angry at myself. But now… I didn't see any reason to keep it going.
Eliminating her would've created another variable in the story. And I couldn't afford that. On the other hand, she couldn't counter Timeless.
I think we both knew how this would end.
Still, while I didn't need the points, she did. And somehow, I doubted she'd be the one to back down. And I'd be lying if I said I wasn't interested in that lizard she had.
"So, where did you find your— I mean, where did you find Ella?" I asked, idly playing with a bubble of water spinning in my palm.
"Australia. Why do you ask?" Yelena answered without hesitation, already preparing another spell—at least, I assumed that's what she was doing.
Of course, it's Australia! Every weird, mutated animal or bizarre physique seems to come from there. So how was I the unlucky one who couldn't find any useful DNA in that entire cursed continent?
"No reason. I was just wondering how such a cute animal could be born in such a hellish place," I said, flicking the bubble upward into the sky.
"That aside… ever seen the sky fall?"
"What?" Yelena asked, frowning in confusion.
The bubble soared into the storm above and collided with the thunderclouds, bursting into a fine mist.
That mist swept through the clouds like a ripple through silk. Every droplet within froze solid—suspended in midair—until the sky itself looked like a vast, shimmering sheet of ice.
Then it shattered.
A thousand crystal fragments rained down, scattering light as they fell, cascading over both of us like frozen stardust.
Yelena created a barrier of wood, raising massive roots from the ground in an attempt to shield herself.
But the moment the first shard of ice touched them, the roots froze solid—instantly—and shattered the second another flake drifted down.
Within moments, everything around us was reduced to dust.
Everything… except for the walls of trees encircling us, which had only partially turned to ice.
And of course—Yelena and Ella. They alone remained untouched amidst the ruin.
"Huh. I didn't expect that to happen," I muttered, eyes scanning the aftermath.
All I meant to do was freeze everything on the ground—I hadn't anticipated the ice would also shatter it completely.
Unsurprisingly, Yelena found herself with no other option but to mutate Ella once again. But it seems I had severely underestimated the current limits of her little companion.
"Oh…" The word slipped out before I could stop it, as Ella began to grow—rapidly—right before my eyes.
What had once been a small, oddly charming lizard was now transforming into something monstrous. Her limbs stretched and thickened with sinewy muscle, and her scales darkened—hardening into jagged, obsidian armour that gleamed with menace.
Her eyes—those glowing, slitted eyes—burned with unnatural intensity. Spikes erupted along her spine like blades, jutting out in sharp, deliberate patterns, and the very air around her pulsed with raw, volatile energy.
Well... I have had good days and bad days, today seems to be a mixture of both.
Ella didn't hesitate.
She coiled her massive tail back in a blur of motion—then snapped it forward like a whip aimed straight at me.
I moved away from the direction of the attack with Timeless, narrowly avoiding the blow. But the aftermath told a different story.
The sheer pressure trailing behind her strike tore through the air like a shockwave, obliterating one of the tree walls around us and carving a crater into the earth along its path.
"I have to say," Ryuk mused, covering his beak with one wing. "If she weren't a descendant of Life, I might've considered making her one of mine."
Whose side are you on, exactly? I gave him a sharp glance.
With Yelena tucked beneath Ella's massive belly, I couldn't get a clear angle to target her and cancel the spell.
And those obsidian scales… yeah, no. I wasn't breaking through those anytime soon.
"Move!" A shout came from the direction of the shattered wall.
I activated Timeless without hesitation, vanishing from Ella's vicinity in the blink of an eye.
Before she could react to the warning, a massive ball of ice—easily as large as her mutated form—came crashing down from above.
It struck her square on the head and exploded into jagged shards, momentarily stunning her.
At the heart of the impact, a tomahawk embedded within the ice slammed into her skull, cracking one of her armoured scales and getting lodged deep in the wound.
Following up on the attack, Tom coated his entire body in aura. The water string still tethered to the tomahawk snapped taut as he used it to launch himself toward Ella like a projectile.
A greatsword gleamed in his hand.
Harnessing the momentum, he twisted midair into a spiraling strike, slashing down from the left side of her neck all the way to her leg.
The cut wasn't deep—but it was enough.
He broke through those obsidian scales and drew blood using nothing but raw momentum and his aura. I'd been wondering when he'd finally tap into it.
Sure, Tom lost to me when we both held back.
But in a death match?
We'd probably kill each other.
After all, the heir of the League of Hunters wasn't any weaker than the heirs of the Major Families.
"Where the hell did this monstrosity come from?" Tom asked as he landed beside me, eyes locked on Ella—who was already beginning to recover from the last hit.
"You know, I should be the one asking you that," I replied. "I thought Risa told you to stay back."
"Yeah, she did. But I got bored," Tom said casually, phasing the greatsword back into his utility belt's subspace and drawing his sniper in one smooth, practiced motion.
"Well, I was planning to back off now that you're here," I said, stepping up beside him. "I didn't want to fight someone while having the advantage in numbers… but I guess this evens the playing field."
"Seriously? How does this even the playing field?" Yelena called out, trying to reason with us.
"Last time I checked, you didn't look like a giant lizard," I shot back without missing a beat.
Cough! Cough!
"I sincerely apologize for the rudeness of my friend here," Tom said, stepping in with exaggerated politeness. "He doesn't really mean that. He's just… not in the best state of mind right now. Do excuse him."
Then, leaning close, he whispered in my ear, "Calm down, Raymond. This is just an exam fight. And maybe don't say things like that to a girl—they tend to take offense to those kinds of remarks."
"…" I didn't really know how to respond to that. So, I did the one thing I figured might actually ease the tension.
Ding!
A soft chime echoed from Yelena's exam bracelet.
She glanced down at it—then blinked in surprise. Her score had just crossed the threshold.
She had enough points to pass.
"Think of it as an apology," I said, my tone suddenly serious. "I still haven't declared you the winner of this fight."
"No thank you," Yelena said calmly. "I don't have much mana left to keep this fight going, and I don't need any more points. So, I'll see myself out."
As she spoke, Ella shrank down in an instant, her enormous form collapsing into a much smaller shape with a sudden burst of dust.
Before either of us could react—let alone chase—they were gone. Slipped effortlessly into the ground without even the courtesy of leaving a tunnel behind.
"Boring," Tom and I muttered in unison.